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Monday, May 21, 2012

My family and I recently had the opportunity to review
a Junior Book D from WriteShop.I was
very excited about this, as I felt it would be a great fit for my 11 year old.

“WriteShop
Junior is a creative writing program that appeals to
many learning styles. As with all WriteShop products, WriteShop Junior helps
you guide children through the steps of the writing process. To keep the
experience fun for everyone, every lesson includes engaging games and
activities that teach and review important writing and self-editing skills. And
whether you have a more advanced child or one who is just beginning, this program
is flexible so children can work at their own level."

Book
D is recommended for 3rd and 4th grade, but I
found it to be a nice fit for my 6th grader who struggles with her
reading and writing.

My family received The WriteShop Junior Book D Teacher’s
Guide, Activity Pack (2 pack containing the Student Worksheet Pack and the Level 1 Fold-N-Go Grammar Pack), and
the Time-Saver Pack.

The Student Worksheet
Pack (part of the Student Activity Pack) has all the activity
pages your child needs to complete sections of each lesson. These worksheets
introduce your child to writing skills such as brainstorming and self-editing.

Pre-writing
activities

Skill Builders

Journal prompt pages

Brainstorming worksheets/graphic
organizers

Reading log forms

Self-editing
checklists

Evaluation Chart

The Level 1 Fold-N-Go Grammar
Pack(part of the Student Activity Pack) are fun reference tools with easy to do exercises
that introduce or review grammar rules and the necessary writing skills.The Grammar Pack can be printed on colorful paper and assembled
on the inside of a file folder to create 10 large flipbooks.There is one flipbook for each lesson.

Punctuation
Marks

Self-editing

Nouns

Pronouns

Verbs

Adjectives

Adverbs

Prepositions

Capitalization

References

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The Time-Saver Pack is an optional tool for parents
like me who welcome
shortcuts.The Time-Saver Pack includes
a multiple ready-made props for the various activities, such as spinners and game
cards.

Our thoughs: My reluctant writer has enjoyed WriteShop Junior
so far.She finds it easier for her to
get her thoughts rolling if she has some prompt along the way and WriteShop
does just that.In the beginning it was
a bit challenging for me to understand how everything flowed together, but I
eventually figured it all out

“Even kids who claim an aversion to science will
be engaged by the high-energy science demonstrations of Ben Roy! Ben teaches
science methods at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is the former
director of a science program on television. With this expertise, Ben
captivates, motivates, and inspires students to be excited about science, while
providing effective instruction based on science phenomena. Each of the 67
spectacular demonstrations of physical or chemical science has a spiritual
application and points to our Creator! “

LES videos are recommended for ages 6 to 14. However, I feel they
are more geared toward ages 6-10. We felt Ben Roy is certainly an animated and enthusiastic
man who loves God and science.Although
many of the experiments were more directed towards older students, my 11 and 14
year olds felt he was way too enthusiastic for their liking and felt as though
he was speaking to a room full of very young children.We did however; enjoy watching him perform
many different experiments.

You If you would like more information about Library and Educational Services and their Go Science series, stop by their website, www.libraryanded.com/goscience/.

You can purchase the DVDs for $8.97 each or the whole set for $47.95.The running time for the DVDs we reviewed are about 43-54 minutes.

Check out what my fellow crew members had to say about Go Science.

** Disclaimer: I received Go Science Volumes 3
and 4 from Library and Educational Services free of cost in
exchange for my honest, unbiased, and fair review.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I don’t
know about your children, but my girls LOVE science, primarily doing science experiments.My 6th grader would do nothing in school, but
experiments if I let her.

Amazing Science!

Amazing Science Volume 1 is a 2 disk DVD set containing 23
different science experiments.The experiments
are taught by Jason Gibson who has advanced degrees in Engineering and Physics
and worked at NASA as a Rocket Scientist!How cool is that?!

The experiments -

Color Changing Milk
Egg in a Bottle
Exploring Air Pressure
Building a Lemon Battery
Inverted Cup of Water
Candle Suction Power
Amazing Magnetic Force
Lift and Ice Cube with String
Unburnable Money
Matchstick Speedboat
Cloud in a Bottle
Reversing an Image with Water
Floating Eggs
Keeping Paper Dry Under Water
Dry Ice Bubbles
Balloon in a Candle Flame
Ocean in a Bottle
Build a Motor with Lights
Simple Lava Lamp
Invisible Ink
Density Tower
Soda Can Fizz
Build a Motor #2

Here
is a sample video from the DVD.

Here
are some photos and videos of my daughters having fun with science!

Inverted
Cup of Water Color
Changing Milk

Invisible
Ink Keep Paper Dry Underwater

I tried multiple times to upload videos of my daughters doing the Candle
Suction Power experiment, as well as the Build a Motor #2, but for one reason or another I cannot get them to load correctly.

They also completed several other experiments presented
on the DVDs, but I failed to capture them on film.

Jason not only does the experiments for the
student to see in action, but he explains the step-by-step process of performing
them, as well as explains in length about what is happening and why. A complete
materials list is also given for every demonstration.

When
we played the DVD I instantly recognized Jason as the instructor for the
Pre-Algebra Tutor DVD I reviewed back in September 2010. He is a great instructor!

Reviews in the works

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About Me

I've been happily married to Jeremey for nearly 15 years and we have 2 amazing daughters. I spend my time homeschooling, assisting with our business (Electronic Interiors of NC), hanging out with my family and friends, reading, watching tv, and of course blogging :)